VAN KEULEN, J. - Manuscript map of the Bay of Nagasaki.

Published : Amsterdam, 1750.
Size : 19.9 x 22.8 inches. / 50.5 x 58.0 cm.
Colouring : Original colours.

Manuscript chart in brown ink and wash colour on paper. During the period 1726-1755, when Johannes van Keulen II was in charge as Hydrographer of the V.O.C., the first charts for the navigation to the East Indies and in the Malaysian Archipelago were engraved. Such charts printed or in manuscript are sometimes found as additions to copies of the Zee-Fakkel. They mark the beginning of what was to become the pilot guide for the East Indies. Several of the charts in the sixth part of the Zee-Fakkel were engraved after the manuscript master-models in the archives of the V.O.C. Van Keulen printed sheets with a system of rhumblines and latitude scales for the use of sailors. On these sheets newly explored coasts could be drawn in. This chart shows the Bay of Nagasaki and is drawn on such a sheet. With a decorative compass-rose in manuscript and many names of islands offshore the Kyushu coast. With names as Nangezakki, De Cavallos Eylanden, Spitze klip, Nemde, Henmer de kiekens, Branding, Capel, Zierkseesche Toren, Style klippen, De Boots Klampen, Hoog gebergte, Branding, anchorage mark near Papenburg at the entrance of the bay. Decima is clearly marked and shown. Very rare manuscript map only two other copies known. Probably a first state. ¤

Condition : Manuscript on paper. Contemporarily laid down on paper. Very decorative colours.


ID: 02091